> > >I recorded a 79 minute file on my fm recorder -- using a pretty
> > >recent cvs, but the headers are messed up and no program will play
> > >the thing.

Does the file play Ok on the Archos? Then you should
be able to fix it!

> Unfortunately, this didn't help at all -- it did find 4 bad frames,
> but still the file is unplayable -- after 30 minutes or so it seems
> to be playing near the end -- something is really messed up here.

Did you really try "mp3fixer" on the file on the PC
and then afterwards a vbrfix (on the jukebox or the PC)?
I have never had a file that could not be fixed this way
and I've been recording all the time...

> Now even if I can't salvage this one, how do I prevent this in the
> future, otherwise the archos is not much use as a recorder.

This might be a hardware problem. From my experience you get bad
frames if you record at a volume level close to 0db for a longer time. If you
set your recording levels so that the peaks do not touch 0db you should
not have this problem.